03/03, 3:50am

Apple rolls out CarPlay, brings iPhones to cars with official interface

Apple has announced CarPlay, its automotive interface for iPhones running iOS 7 or later. "CarPlay" is the new official product name for its previously-announced 'iOS in the Car' initiative. Apple is touting CarPlay as a "smarter, safer and more fun way to use iPhone in the car." CarPlay will make its debut at the Geneva Auto Show this week, with debuts from Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo.

01/28, 11:08am

Depicts voice, location-beaming features

New video from developer Steven Troughton-Smith shows iOS in the Car in action, running in iOS Simulator. The clip (below) shows Troughton-Smith going through some basic functions, including beaming a location from an iPhone to a virtual in-dash display. The dash also brings up a Siri prompt, asking people to speak a search term such as "1 Infinite Loop," "ice cream," or "San Francisco."

01/21, 3:11pm

Timeline for feature's launch still vague

iOS in the Car has changed significantly since it was first demonstrated at WWDC 2013, the current state of pre-release code shows. Apple has for instance rearranged the status bar into a vertical position, and altered the look and placement of buttons. This includes completely revamping the app screen to use a more standard icon placement, instead of displaying an unlabeled bar.

12/30, 11:58am

Will announce partnership at CES, working with Nvidia on hardware

Google is working with Audi to use Android with in-car systems for information and entertainment, according to a report. The two companies will allegedly announce their partnership at CES next week, with the efforts said to involve Android running on the car's own hardware, instead of communicating with an external device, such as with "iOS in the Car."

12/03, 3:33pm

Display Audio tech requires iPhone 5 or later

The 2014 Civic and the 2015 Fit will each get two forms of iOS integration, Honda has announced. The most significant is Display Audio, which will let users control functions like music, calling, and navigation through gesture controls on a built-in capacitive touchscreen. Connecting will require an iPhone 5, 5s, or 5c, and one or more of four new HondaLink apps: Connect, Navigation, Aha, and Launcher. Aha provides access to Internet audio including radio, podcasts, and audiobooks, plus Twitter and Facebook updates, and listings for nearby points of interest. Launcher is used to find and launch HondaLink-compatible apps. The official Honda apps are all free except for Navigation, which costs $60.

11/22, 3:25pm

2014 Honda Civic Coupe to support iOS mirroring

The 2014 Civic Coupe will support iOS mirroring when it becomes available on December 4th, Honda has announced. The car has a 7-inch multi-touch display built into the dash, which people will be able to use to control an iOS device without having to use a mount or reach down. Honda adds that promised Siri Eyes Free updates for its vehicles will also be available in early December.

08/19, 5:14pm

iPad support may have to wait for iOS 7.0.1

Although Apple is almost finished with the iPhone and iPod version of iOS 7, the iPad release is running behind schedule, sources claim. iPad support only arrived two weeks after the first beta, and developers continue to complain that it's more unreliable than when the firmware is running on an iPhone. "Chatter inside Apple" allegedly points to the possibility of holding back iPad support from the public until a v7.0.1 update sometime in late September or October, possibly in tandem with new iPad models.

07/08, 9:30pm

'Eyes-free' Siri plus set of iOS services coming early next year

Apple's 2014 initiative known as "iOS in the Car," a method of connecting iOS devices so that they "take over" built-in navigation and information screens in vehicles to allow drivers to take and make phone calls, use Maps, work with Messages on their center console screen (or "Eyes Free" with some services employing Siri) has been discovered to gain AirPlay support in the betas of iOS 7. The discovery by hacker Hamza Sood means that some vehicles will be able to connect to devices wirelessly using Wi-Fi or possibly Bluetooth.

06/12, 4:03pm

Would require too many dashboard changes, carmaker says

BMW vehicles will not support iOS in the Car anytime soon, a spokesperson for the company says. "The upshot is that as we have such an advanced multimedia offer that has been in vehicles in various guises for more than a decade, it would not be that straight forward to start changing all of the architecture of a car as has been implied [by Apple]," the person explains, adding that the process of integrating iOS into a dashboard is "not as simple as it sounds."